Blarney Stone Enterprises Case Study

Blarney Stone Enterprises Case Study

1- Examine the alternative options upon of Blarney at this point on the company life cycle.

Blarney Stone Enterprises has been selling products on the market for more than two decades. At the beginning the company focused its attention on supplying figurines only on a domestic level.But soon they realized the large demand for this products outside of Ireland as well as the existing gap in the market. After receiving support from the Irish Government Trade Promotion Agency the company started to attend international trade shows, analyzing costumer behavior and identifying possibles ways of entering the market.

Some years later, they decided to approach the biggest market (USA&UK) by opening sales offices in New York and then in London. They also began to develop a website as "their international product window for their product range". But in 2001 Declan's decision was to close both NY and London offices to cut the costs of sales and develop a better website to provide more support to both retailers and distributors.By 2005 Declan was trying to decide what should be the strategic direction of the company.

Proven the success of this products outside of Ireland, this company should focus on its international expansion.Still, its major sales outside of Ireland are focused on the United States, therefore, a more enthusiastic regional market campaign must be done. Internet sales are the core strategy of the company at the moment,therefore, an intensive online marketing campaign must be held in order to attract more and new costumers. Another way to attract new costumers would be to participate on showrooms in different countries to approach new markets. Internet sales seem to be the best alternative for this company due to the high costs of a maintaining a sales office.

Innovation is at the heart of the business, new characters and figurines must be created maintaining its high quality standards which give name to its international reputation.Also, the customer service department must keep track of any possible complains and bring solutions